Don't believe the hype: Virgil Abloh is not going to Versace

The Internet went into rumour overdrive Thursday morning after a web report that American streetwear designer Virgil Abloh was about to be named creative director of Versace. The house, however, has denied any plans of the sort.

Left, Atelier Versace FW16; right, Off/White womenswear FW17 - PixelformulaUS-based website Glossy first launched the idea in an August 31 story entitled: “Sources say Virgil Abloh will head to Versace,” written by one Jessica Schiffer.

The author claimed that the American designer “is in the midst of signing a deal with Versace to be its next creative director, according to two sources close to the designer.”

However, a spokesman for the Milan fashion house dismissed the report out of hand. “This is categorically not true. Nothing like this is happening,” the spokesman told Fashionnetwork.com. The house’s creative director for the past two decades has been Donatella Versace, who took over after the death of her brother Gianni, the brand’s founder, in Miami in 1997.

Back in February of this year, after Riccardo Tisci left his position as couturier at Givenchy, the fashion industry was awash with reports that the Italian designer would join Versace. However, despite apparently meeting with executives from the house, no offer was finally made by Versace to Tisci.

In the wake of these reports, Donatella Versace – a normally media-friendly designer - has pointedly maintained a closed backstage for both women’s and men’s ready-to-wear, in February and June respectively, as well as cancelling the Versace Atelier haute couture runway show sin Paris, typically staged in July.

Quite why a legendary path-breaking house like Versace, which reinvented modern glamour and gave birth to the whole link-up with high fashion and rock 'n' roll, would even dream of hiring Abloh, a streetwear designer who is best known for making sneakers and has no formal fashion design training, also remains a mystery.